Alex de Campi and Robert Hack Meta-Commentate on Reboots for Archie vs. Predator Sequel

Archie vs. Predator is happening again this Summer, with a sequel to the original by Alex de Campi and Robert Hack. THR'sGraeme "Graham" McMillan had the honor of publishing the EX-X-XCLUSIVE press release on Archie vs. Predator 2, which is set to launch in July as a collaboration between Archie and Dark Horse. In the press release, de Campi described the book as "a meta-commentary on corporate franchise reboots:"

All I'm going to say is that it's a meta-commentary on corporate franchise reboots, given that Archie was rebooted right after [the first Archie vs. Predator] was released, and the Predator franchise got its reboot with last year's The Predator film. As usual with my work, you'll be able to read it as that if you want to, but it's mostly going to be a lot of teenagers dying in increasingly creative and sudden ways, and also jokes. Entertaining the reader comes first. The other stuff, the formalist obstacle course I set myself, I do because it entertains me.

I think as anyone who read the first AvP knows, I'm a huge fan of both franchises, and it's massively important to me that both Archie and Predator fans feel like I'm handling their babies with love and respect and knowledge. My goal is always to deliver a great Archie comic — with the humor, teen drama and romance we love from Riverdale's finest — as well as a great Predator comic, with the scares and violence you want from the galaxy's most dangerous hunters.

While Hack added:

There's so much to love about playing in this iconic universe, but key to me is the humor of it all. That's something I've tried to add, even in my covers, and frequently in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. And, of course, a book like AVP2 definitely appeals to that subversive streak in me that wants to take the humor and the horror just that little bit too far.

There are a lot of characters in the Archie Universe I haven't drawn yet — Ethel, Kevin, Dilton, Moose, Midge, etc., I'm looking forward to getting a chance to finally draw them…and then kill them all in unfathomably horrific ways.

And what would a meta-commentary on corporate franchise reboots be without a veritable buttload of variant covers? Check out some of those below by Rick Burchett, Derek Charm, Francesco Francavilla, Dan Parent, and Billy Tucci, as well as the regular cover by Flack.

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A prophecy says that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.

Scourge of Rich Johnston, maker of puns, and seeker of the Snyder Cut, Jude Terror, sadly, is not the hero comics needs right now... but he's the one the industry deserves.